


Hot & Cold

by miscnine



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Beauxbatons Student Ginny Weasley, Durmstrang Student Draco Malfoy, Durmstrang Student Hermione Granger, F/F, F/M, Hogwarts + Beauxbatons + Durmstrang are under one administrative board, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Multi, Nonbinary Ernie Macmillan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:01:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29388816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miscnine/pseuds/miscnine
Summary: Prompt: Luna and Ginny are pitted against each other in a baking competition. With a dash of sugar and spice, can enemies become lovers?
Relationships: Hannah Abbott/Theodore Nott, Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter/Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood & Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley
Kudos: 4
Collections: Luna Lovegood Fest 2021





	Hot & Cold

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Luna and Ginny are pitted against each other in a baking competition. With a dash of sugar and spice, can enemies become lovers?  
> Prompter: wisp-of-a-spook
> 
> Thank you so much for this prompt! It was so fun to write, especially for my first fandom fest. I didn't expect to have so much ideas and make it so long! Sorry, I just couldn't see them as enemies, but they're definitely pitted against each other here! I focused more on Luna's friendships than her relationship with Ginny, but they definitely have Their Moments.  
> I also wrote Ernie as a non-binary who uses they/them pronouns, because why not. ✨

Luna hummed as she hugged a box of decorations to her chest with one hand and clutched a bag of cloth in another hand. She walked down the stairs and looked around at Hogwarts when the students had mostly gone and went straight to the restaurants and small cafes that lined the street just beside the street where the school was. She walked past and waved at Blaise who was with his group of fellow Pharmacy students who were hanging around behind a big sign (that said "HOGWARTS: COLLEGE ADMISSIONS" and so on about international acclaim) and clearly gambling.

She approached the parked van with all its doors open. Harry who was arranging the stack into the back of the van caught sight of her and rushed over to take the box.

"That's the last one, right?" Harry asked, depositing the box on the ground.

"Yes, it is," Luna replied, setting the bag beside the box.

Harry looked over at her then smiled. He called out to the front of the car, "Ron? Can you still see through the mirror?"

"No. I think you should just set that box in the middle or have someone carry it on their lap." Ron called back. Luna looked over and saw that he was seated on the driver's seat.

"Hannah and Theo should be coming down soon," Luna said. "Has Ernie passed by yet?"

"Hm, no. Oh, but they did call to ask if we wanted any snacks too." Harry pulled out his phone and passed it to Luna "I sent them a text with some things I thought we'd want. Just add whatever else."

Luna typed in Harry's password and smiled at her friend's texting with all its punctuations. She looked at the long list of snacks and drinks and figured they would be fine on that part. She sent a quick text, reminding Ernie to focus on buying the ingredients rather than the snacks, and signed off with several carrot emojis. She shut the phone and slipped it back into Harry's left pocket. Harry slid the van door shut and Ron stepped off the car.

"Hey. I have to go for that thing with Hermione already," Ron announced, drawing both Harry and Luna's attention. He turned to Harry and took his hand. "Draco's still there so you'll probably find him shouting at his batchmates about something or other."

Harry and Ron shared a fond laugh over that, and Luna smiled and began to walk a little farther away, happy to give them some time alone.

"Bye. Take care, okay? I love you."

"Love you, too. Have fun on your date with Hermione."

'Walking around the van still wasn't far away enough,' Luna thought. 'Harry and Ron truly are adorable, though.'

"Have fun making sure Draco doesn't strangle someone or sabotage another booth." Ron laughed. "I really have to go. Bye. And bye, Luna!"

"Goodbye, Ron!" Luna called, walking back to Harry to watch Ron leave with him.

"Do you want to sit first?" Luna asked, startling Harry back to attention.

"No—I think that's Theo coming up." Harry leaned back on the car door.

"And Hannah," Luna added, leaning on Harry's arm and dropping her head on his shoulder. "They look frustrated."

"Must be Snape."

"We need not even bet on it." Luna and Harry shared small smiles. They watched as Hannah overtook Theo and walked up to them.

"Snape—" Hannah began, looking positively cross.

"And don't even get me started on Vector!" Theo cut in, throwing his hands up.

"What did they say about the product?" Luna asked.

Theo huffed and explained, "Snape said that 'as a nutritionist, he's concerned by the jalapeno ice cream' and he thinks we should 're-evaluate our decisions—'"

"'Lest we want to fail so badly that we're at the bottom of the list against all the other groups from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang!' Ugh, what an ass." Hannah interjected. Theo tilted his face heavenward then rolled his eyes. Hannah leaned on the car too then sighed and gestured as she continued, "To add to that, Vector saw the costing I typed up and said that it was incomplete and virtually useless as it was so we have to add that to the list of what we'll have to do tomorrow."

"We still have time to get it done," Luna offered. "We'll make it."

"We still have  _ tomorrow _ to get it done. The day after that is already competition day one of three." Hannah huffed. "I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: they should have told us all this earlier, I swear. Just two weeks to prepare an entire business plan and think of a proper product for such a big competition."

They all gave grunts and hums of agreement.

"Lucky we have you with us," Theo turned to Hannah with a small smile on his face. "At the least, Professor Snape didn't say anything about your Dutch Baby!"

"Honestly, Luna and I are so glad you guys took this on with us. Definitely lucky Hannah was already selling dutch babies around the campus." Harry sighed.

"Definitely," Luna agreed.

"Honestly, Harry, as if we would say no to as big an opportunity as the Pure Gold Competition." Theo smirked.

"I swear, I didn't even think Snape would even go to me and Luna to invite us to form a group for it." Harry swept a hand to gesture to their entire group.

"So you've said, time and again," Hannah rolled her eyes. "We all knew you guys were going to get picked. You guys are pretty popular, with our fellow HTM students and around the campus."

"Yeah and that's bloody awesome, except it's useless because now none of the professors are even offering us support." Harry groaned.

"Yeah, that is true. It's like they don't even expect us to win." Theo sneered, finally joining the rest as they leaned on the car door. Luna wondered why they didn't just sit inside the car, then dismissed it as a solidarity thing because Ernie wasn't there yet.

"Aren't we the only group representing Hogwarts?" Luna cut through the brief silence.

"Hey, yeah! Ron—" Harry was cut off by Luna.

"Harry's Accounting student boyfriend who helped us carry our things to the van," Luna told Theo and Hannah whose faces cleared and nodded for Harry to continue. Harry looked at her weirdly before shrugging it off.

"—said his sister was in one of the  _ four _ groups for Beauxbatons."

" _ Four? _ And we have one? We're the only one? It's like Hogwarts just wanted us to join just to say we did. Our campus is really treated like shit compared to the other schools under the Merlin's Educ Board." Theo grunted.

"Yeah! And Draco—"

"Harry's Durmstrang boyfriend." Theo and Hannah were incredibly amused by Luna's efforts. Harry's eyebrows were just furrowed.

"—and Hermione—"

"Harry's Durmstrang girlfriend." Luna looked up at Harry, smiling. "Sorry, go on." It wasn't Luna's fault Harry forgot that not everyone was updated with his life.

"Anyway, they said Durmstrang had only two groups joining the competition because the others were more interested in the Durmstrang Entrepreneurs' Festival that'll be held in the same building at the same time."

The group looked pensive at the information.

"Should we get in the car already? You guys need to cool down," Harry suggested. He looked both Theo and Hannah up and down, smiling. "And cool off."

"Yeah, alright." Hannah peeled herself from the car door she was comfortably leant against.

Theo got on the driver's seat, Hannah on the passenger's seat, and Luna and Harry at the back. They were startled—Hannah, especially—when Ernie started knocking on the window beside her.

Hannah rolled the window down and shouted. "You're so mean! Get in the car so we can go!"

Ernie laughed their way in and settled to the seat beside Luna, effectively trapping her in the middle. Luna took the bag of food from Ernie and settled it on her lap for easy access for everyone.

"Alright." Theo started the engine. "To the Durmstrang event hall."

* * *

The drive to Durmstrang was fairly silent, only because everyone but Theo and Luna stayed awake. Luna busied herself with eating the cheese balls Ernie procured and listening to Theo recite the lesson both to prepare for the coming quiz and to keep himself awake.

"Lune," Theo said.

"Yes?" She replied.

"Does your father know about the competition?" Theo asked, eyes briefly flitting to the mirror and meeting Luna's eyes.

"He does."

"Is he... visiting on one of the days?"

"No, I don't think he is," Luna said, shaking her head.

"Is he still...?"

"Yes, but the doctors said he'll be fine there and I can visit in a week." She paused, briefly assessing Theo's face. "Is your father aware of the competition?"

"No," Theo sighed. "He isn't, and frankly, I don't think I should even tell him? It wouldn't matter to him—not if we don't win, anyway—and from the lack of support we're getting, honestly, I don't even know if we stand a chance."

"You don't know that, Theo."

"No," Theo agreed. "But that's what it feels like." Theo let out a sigh that spoke.  _ I am so tired of life giving my dad disappointments. _

The car settled into silence. Luna leaned back for a brief moment to rest her eyes—at least she thought it was a brief moment until she was being shaken awake by Ernie.

"We're here. Get up, Lunes," They said, kicking the box of decorations that lay at their feet a little to the side so that they could get out of the van.

Luna looked down at the cheese balls she was holding then folded the top and shoved it back into the plastic. She looked around to find Hannah stretching outside the car, Harry on his phone, and Theo opening the back of the van.

She hauled herself out the car and stretched her back, craning her neck.

"So this is Durmstrang," Theo said, suddenly beside Luna and carrying a box. Luna looked up at the tall building and hummed in reply.

"Hey, Harry, have you been here before?" Theo called out behind him.

"Hm?" Harry lifted his head. "Oh, yeah. Loads of times. I'll bring us to the event hall."

"No, I contacted the organizer." Hannah piped up. "They said we have to go to the front office first to log our visit."

"Oh okay. I'll bring us there then." Harry shrugged, putting away his phone.

Hannah and Ernie carried all their backpacks and Theo, Harry, and Luna began lugging the boxes. They walked together, Harry only slightly ahead of them to point where they should go next.

"We're all funded by the same board but by god, why does Durmstrang look so much better than Hogwarts?" Ernie complained.

"Please tell me the event hall isn't that far from this parking." Theo frowned.

"The event hall is up a couple floors but there are a couple elevators."

Soon enough, thanks to Harry's  _ impeccable _ sense of direction—and the map that Luna had fortunately taken from the front office in a show of her famous foresight—they finally entered the event hall.

"Well, that took us a while," Theo said, eyebrows raised.

Harry rolled his eyes, tugging Theo's arm forward. "Let's just go."

Hannah shook her head and steered them in the right direction to their booth. When they got there, they were underwhelmed.

"Uhm, I have two questions," Ernie began. "Is it really supposed to be this bare? Also, when did everyone else get here really?"

Luna looked around at how elaborate, big, and well-designed the other booths already were compared to their meter-long wooden table with three poles as an overhead frame and two green, foldable chairs.

Hannah started to look distraught, most likely thinking about the budget that the school gave. At her face, the others were quickly diving into a worse mood.

"So, you're here, finally," A voice drawled. "I see you've just found what we all have to work with."

Harry and Luna turned around, prompting the others to do the same, to see Draco posing with his hands crossed over his chest.

"Hello, Draco." Luna smiled brightly.

"Hi."

"What the hell are you wearing?" Harry asked, looking his boyfriend up and down.

"My uniform. I'm  _ em-cee _ ing the event, as you know," Draco replied, walking closer to them. "What the hell are  _ you _ wearing?"

At that comment, Hannah, Theo, and Luna looked down at the casual clothes they were wearing. Harry shrugged.

"It's not actually the event yet, you know," Harry said, still staring at Draco's uniform.

"I know, but I just got it."

Harry shook his head fondly at that.

"When did everyone get here?" Hannah had her eyebrows furrowed. "I'm Hannah, by the way."

Theo set the box on the lonely table and began to take the boxes and bags from the others. "Theodore, but by god, please call me Theo," he said in passing introduction.

"That's Ernie," Luna pointed at Ernie, who was walking around the length of the hall while they were engaged in conversation.

"Draco Malfoy." He gestured to himself. "Hi. To answer your question, Beauxbatons has been here since this morning and the rest of the booths are for the Entrep Fest so we've been working on them for a while. This side of the hall is for the Pure Gold Competition, and that side—" He pointed at the other side of the big stage that stood in the middle of the room. "—is for the Fest which I will be speaking for."

Hannah hummed in thought.

"Oh, before I forget. I'm sure those aren't all your things." Draco gestured to the boxes and bags. "We have runners willing to help carry things up, I can ask them to come over?"

"Thank you." Hannah sighed in relief. "I did not want to try to navigate the halls a couple more times with Harry's guidance and Luna's instructions."

Draco chuckled, clearly having spent enough time with the two to understand what the combination entailed. "I'll go over and find Vince and Greg. Harry, care to join me?"

"Please be quick." Luna reminded the two who were already walking off, arm in arm.

"Right, well," Hannah clapped her hands once, catching Luna's attention. "I'll get Ernie and we can start putting up what we already have."

"I'm good to help get the rest in the van," Luna offered.

"I'll go with you," Theo said, lifting the car keys up.

"Okay, great." Hannah grinned at them, making Theo pointedly avert his eyes and smile a little. Luna watched, amused. She sent Theo a fairly innocent look which he glared at.

Two people walked over, interrupting the curious moment. They briefly introduced themselves as the Vince and Greg that Draco mentioned. Soon enough, Theo was walking after and Luna was humming as she skipped a little ways behind.

By 7 pm, Harry and Luna were in Draco's car. They had just watched Theo leave. Overall, they were as productive as they could have been with the minimal items they brought and the limited amount of time they had. They couldn't go back to Durmstrang the next day because they were scheduled to be in the Hogwarts labs to prepare their ingredients, pre-bake some items, and request materials from the storage and pantry of the school. Draco had told Luna she could lay on the backseat and sleep until they arrived at the small apartment she shared with Harry. From then on, the events of the night were hazy to her, only remembering the boys' conversation about the other competitors and the fact that Harry helped her to her room and tucked her in.

* * *

Luna woke up to an upbeat rendition of "Yellow Submarine." She turned over in her bed and took her phone out of the jeans she didn't get to slip out of the previous night. She dismissed all remaining alarms and saw that it was 6 am already.

She pulled off her clothes as she walked to her bathroom to take a shower. After a shockingly cold shower, she was dressed and hungry. She didn't remember eating dinner last night so that must explain it. With her hair still wet and carelessly put in a bun, she walked to their kitchen to find Harry in his sleeping clothes and drinking coffee, sitting with his back to her.

"Good morning, Harry."

"Oh, hey," Harry mumbled. Luna walked around the table so he didn't have to turn to her. She got her rabbit mug from the drawer and filled it with coffee.

"Morning, Lune," He greeted, belatedly.

Luna smiled and sat across him. Her stomach grumbled a little, making Harry frown in concern.

"Oh yeah, you didn't get to eat last night. Wait, let me get the leftovers from last night," he said, dropping off his mug and walking over to prepare their food, decidedly more awake than he was just a while ago. "Draco left a couple minutes ago, by the way. Ron's coming over in half an hour, he said."

Luna hummed over the noise Harry coaxed from the kitchen and the machines in it. He turned back to the table carrying two plates of pad thai. After Luna thanked him, they settled into their morning habits: Luna pulled her phone out and read the news online, sometimes aloud when it's particularly amusing enough to share, and Harry pulled his own phone out to message his lovers. They didn't realize the time until Ron was walking through the door, already in his uniform.

"Oh god, Harry. Come  _ on _ ." Ron groaned. "Hurry up and get ready, I swear."

"Fine, okay, okay! I'm going." Harry stood and kissed his cheek as he passed by to silence his complaints. "It'll be super quick anyway!"

Ron rolled his eyes and waved him off fondly.

"Hey, Luna." Ron waved at her, taking Harry's mug, and once he'd refilled the mug, Harry's seat too. "So I heard you haven't met my sister yet."

"Hello! And no," Luna shook her head, setting her phone down. "We didn't really get a chance to mingle yesterday," she said, thoughtfully. After a moment, she continued, "I don't recall her name."

"Oh, her name's Ginevra—prefers Ginny though, even though her name fits that posh school she studies in." He snorted.

"Oh, she's from Beauxbatons, then?"

"Yep. You know, she's pretty interested in meeting you."

Luna blinked at Ron's miniscule smirk. She decided to clear the table to pass the time.

"Ready?" Luna looked over at the sound of Ron's voice to find Harry stuffing his feet in his shoes and tossing his hair. She finished up then walked over to their shoe rack to put on her own pair. Harry took both his and Luna's bags from the sofa. Ron held the door open for them both and led them to his car.

Luna leaned against the window of the backseat, serenely enjoying the sound of low conversation and the hum of the old family van. When they reached the school, Luna jumped out of the van first waving bye at the two and giving them time alone. She tapped her ID for attendance then headed straight for lab 7, the one reserved for them and the only other advantage apart from the school van that was lent to them. With a quick check at her phone, she saw that it was already 8 am. True to form, Hannah was already there with the measured ingredients all laid out.

"Good morning, Hannah." Luna waved and set her bag on a nearby counter. "Harry will be here soon."

Hannah hummed. "Ernie said they'll be late so I asked them to pick up some more things from the store. I measured everything already and we're missing and lacking a couple things."

Luna nodded. "I can get started on the jalapeno ice cream."

"Yes, please."

Luna and Hannah worked in silence. They were both the ones to suggest the two parts of the product, so they were very used to creating it and didn't encounter any issues getting down to business.

When Luna and Harry were approached by Cedric and told to meet Snape and Vector at the faculty room, they were expecting a reprimand, not invitation letters and an order to form a group for an inter-campus competition with international acclaim. Slowly and through a series of events, they formed their current group. They bumped into Hannah who was selling her dutch babies and initially intended to just help them think of a product and offer advice, not her product. Then as they were experimenting with what else to add to make it appealing, Luna suggested ice cream, then jalapeno ice cream—which led them to grabbing Ernie from the other room and asking them to run to the store and buy some items for them as a favor. Eventually, Ernie did them enough favors that they just asked them to officially add them to the group. The next day, Hannah just came in the lab with Theo in tow and they all just cheered knowing what that meant.

Luna didn't know how much time had passed, but soon she was putting the mixture in the ice cream machine and Theo was bursting through the door.

"Whoa, Hannah. You're a mess already?" Theo commented. Harry peeked over Theo’s shoulder and snickered.

Hannah looked down at her apron with flour and some dried eggs and flushed. "Shut up and help us here so we're done with the batter."

"Calm down, Ann," Theo teased.

Harry cupped his hands over his mouth and spoke loudly, "Excuse me, may I enter the room, please? May I please enter the room,  _ please?" _

Theo rolled his eyes, blushing faintly. Luna giggled at their antics.

The day passed in that fashion: full of productive noise, laughter, and the sound of machines at work. At noon, Ernie brought lunch with them and forced them to sit down and eat as they showcased what weird items they found in the store. Soon, the school maintenance workers were telling them to put things in the refrigerators and back in the pantry because it was a little past dismissal already.

Since none of them had their own cars, they took a bus to Ernie's house, intending to finish their paper. They greeted Ernie's mother who welcomed them back in and told them not to have too much fun. It all went downhill when Ernie called over Blaise Zabini, a Pharmacy student. Luna knew well that Pharmacy students all coped with the number of terms to memorize and activities to accomplish by getting high and drunk quite frequently. She was great friends with Blaise.

By 1 am, they were extinguishing the bonfire with their shoes, save for Hannah and Theo who were hunched over their laptops, and finishing their parts of the paper with a single bottle shared between them. They dragged themselves to Ernie's room and piled on top of each other on Ernie's bed, waving goodbye to Blaise.

* * *

"Get UP!"

Luna stirred, heard multiple groans, and felt herself get kicked on her side. She heard someone fall off the bed and another person sobbed drily. She sat up, rubbing her eyes and just knowing they were red.

Hannah, who was laid under her cold feet, suddenly shot up. "Oh my god! It's competition day!"

"That's right."

All their heads snapped to the person standing on the doorway.

"Hermione?" Harry mumbled from where he was still curled around Luna's side.

"Get up! Everyone!" Hermione clapped her hands to wake them. Hannah shot out of the bed and took the bag of uniforms that they picked up the day before and began to prepare what they all had to wear. Harry continued sobbing drily and whining. Theo looked like he was about to get himself comfortable on the floor.

Ernie walked through the door, grinning and looking freshly showered and still a little high. "I called Hermione to help. She was happy to come."

“It’s a Thursday. I only have afternoon classes today.” Hermione shrugged. "I also had a look at your paper with Ernie and took the liberty of finishing what you guys forgot to. You can thank me when you're actually awake."

Luna took another look around the room and noticed that the sun had barely come up. She reached for her phone.

"It's almost six and there are so many of you who need to change,  _ plus _ you have to go to Hogwarts  _ and _ travel to Durmstrang," Hermione announced with her hands on her hips. "For the rest of the days, you should honestly just book a hotel or motel near the venue."

Hannah rushed to the bathroom, and Theo finally got up. Luna, still in a haze, let herself get moved and pat on the head and watched Hermione coax Harry out of bed.

It took them thirty hectic minutes of running and shoving to get to Hogwarts. By then, they only had a little over an hour before 7:30 am, the time set for the opening ceremony and the introduction of teams.

They just ran from the bus to the gates of the school and paused there to rest for a while.

"Okay, here's what's going to happen," Hannah panted. "Ernie, check everything in the van then get the food from the refrigerators. Luna, show the request to the pantry and storage. Check if it lists the complete uniform: gloves, aprons, hats, and the works. Harry and Theo, come with me to let the teachers check the paper one last time then one of us can run and have it printed."

Everyone nodded.

"I'll come with you, guys," Hermione offered, taking Harry's hand.

"Alright. Thank you so much, by the way." Hannah smiled gratefully. Hermione nodded, smiling back at her.

"Okay, that's enough rest!" Hannah urged them onwards. "Time to go!"

Theo stumbled over his own shoes and would have fallen on his face if it weren’t for Luna pulling him back up. He nodded at her before jogging to match speeds with the others. They split off in different directions at the stairs and just like that, the series of unfortunate events began.

* * *

Hannah, Theo, Ernie, Luna, and Harry simultaneously sat down on the seats labeled with their names, letting out sighs of relief in various pitches. Luna might have thought it was funny if she hadn't cried a little just to get where she was sitting at the moment. The five of them held each others' hands in comfort as they sat through the rest of the introductions of the other groups and let Draco and his co-speaker's voices boom from the speakers of the event hall and wash over their forms.

They were the second out of seven groups to present so they were comfortable they had plenty of time before they had to get up. With that in mind, they leaned against each other and let themselves nap a little. Luna let Harry rest his head on her shoulder.

After they split up at the stairs, each person apparently went through some things.

Luna headed straight to the pantry and they let her take the things, but not the uniforms, saying it couldn't be brought out. Luna pulled her phone out to call Hannah but was beaten to it when Hannah called her herself to explain what's happening on their side.

Apparently, Snape asked why they didn't change their product and warned them of the imminent public failure. Then, Vector said the computation was all wrong, so Hermione and Harry were arguing that because they had both Hermione, the brightest student of their age, and Ron, top of his accountancy class check it. Plus, Vector was notorious for not really checking papers. To add to that, Snape asked where their PowerPoint presentation was—which they weren't even aware they needed—and so Theo started doing that. At that point in the story, Hannah's voice was clearly shaking. Hannah continued her story, saying that Hermione silently instructed Harry to print the paper already while she was still talking to Vector. Hannah proposed to have another math teacher check it so she was on her way to call Professor McGonagall.

Then, Hannah pleaded, "Please tell me it's all going well on your side."

And Luna felt bad for the first time in a while that she does not lie. "Except it's not," Luna said, starting to cry a little at the way Hannah whimpered.

After Luna hung up, she walked back into the storage determinedly and cried about their struggles until the maintenance workers let her borrow the uniforms so long as she promised to wash them. She hugged the two and then ran to aid Ernie, not before texting Hannah to assure her that it was all fixed.

The second Luna saw Ernie, she immediately knew they had yet  _ another _ problem. She stood beside Ernie, copying their pose, putting her hands on her waist, and staring at the fairly sized pile of things that could no longer fit in the school van. They shared a stunned silence. At that moment, Cedric passed by and fussed over Luna's red eyes.

"Have you been crying?" He had asked. "What's wrong?"

Luna explained everything and Ernie, who had just heard of it at that moment, wore the same shocked and frustrated expression as Cedric. Cedric asked for Luna's phone to talk to Hannah, who was searching for a teacher chaperone at that moment. Over the phone, he offered to call the organizers for them and asked them to hold the sign-ups until they got there, seeing as they only had a little less than thirty minutes before it was supposed to close. After getting the 'okay,' with a voice that told Luna Cedric would be the great physical therapist he was hoping to be, he laughed, joked with, and charmed the organizers into agreeing to wait for them. He then patted both Luna and Ernie's shoulders then wished them luck.

Ernie and Luna thanked him profusely and sighed in great relief. Then Harry, Hermione, and Theo rushed down, victorious grins at besting Vector dropping as soon as they saw the problem. Without wasting another second, Hermione called Ron.

"Hurry and bring your van here, Ronald! It's an  _ emergency _ ! Harry might not make it!" She had shouted, completely immersed in the group's collective frustration and missing what she had implied with her words.

Theo, completely paranoid for he apparently had to restart the PowerPoint presentation all over again because his laptop had shut down while making it, asked for all their extra flash drives so that they have multiple copies. After making sure everyone had a copy in their pocket, he and Harry immediately worked on making their script for the introduction. Hannah finally arrived with Professor McGonagall in tow. She was about to cry upon seeing the boxes before Ron suddenly pulled up harshly almost running the boxes over.

"YOU MADE ME THINK SOMEONE WAS DYING," He screamed at Hermione.

"I'm sorry!" Hermione looked horrified. "Look! Just help put the rest in your van so we can go to Durmstrang already!"

Hannah, Theo, Ernie, and a slightly horrified McGonagall left first in the school van. Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Luna methodically and carefully threw everything into the family van then jumped in.

"I can't believe this is how they're treating you," Hermione huffed, looking back at Harry and Luna from the passenger seat. Ron stayed silent, still cross from the scare he was given.

"I was in bed," Ron grumbled, adjusting the mirror. "What a way to wake up on a morning I was supposed to sleep through."

"I'm sorry, Ron." Hermione sighed. "This is all just so... ugh." She huffed.

"Thank you for all this, guys," Harry mumbled, halting Ron and Hermione's actions. Luna watched both their faces soften.

"It's fine, you know." Ron waved it off. "Whatever. It's for you. So this is whatever."

Hermione smiled, then called Draco who informed her the ceremony hadn't started at all and that it was true what Cedric said—two of the special guests haven't arrived yet so they pushed it from 7:30 to 8:15, and the sign-ups are being held for them.

Finally, everyone met back up at the front of the event hall. They rushed to drop their things off at the booth, then went to their seats, barely relaxing before they were called up.

Luna sighed.

Suddenly, a trumpet sounded from the speakers and they all sat up in surprise—the event had officially begun.

Untangling their limbs as they went, the team walked to their booths and got into a different kind of disaster. If the preparation for the event was an earthquake, the event itself was a volcanic eruption. They quickly got into a rhythm, but just as quickly, things were running out and they needed to make more.

At 2 pm, Ernie ran out to buy more ingredients, Harry and Luna set up what machines fit in their space, and Hannah and Theo stayed to man the cashier and manage the line in turns.

Luna just bent down to check the plug of the ice cream machine when a voice suddenly spoke beside her.

“Hey.”

Luna stood up straight and turned to find a redhead by her side. "Hey, you're from the group that's selling—"

"Chocolate salami. Yeah." They nodded, chuckling, their brown eyes sparkling.

"You presented—"

"Right before us." "Right before you."

"Sorry!" They grimaced. "I really don't intend to be so rude."

Luna smiled, shaking her head. "No, it's okay. No problem."

They stared, before shaking their head. "I'm Ginny, by the way. My brother asked me to help you—your group—out because apparently his boyfriend is here, and you! Apparently..."

Luna watched patiently as Ginny continued to mumble, before cutting in. "Oh, thank you then!"

"Right! Of course!" Ginny smiled. "Well, there's extra space in the back, I can help you set up some things there so that you have a wider place here?"

"Yes! Please! That would be great. I'll go ahead and tell our leader, if you don't mind?"

"No, how could I?" Ginny laughed semi-awkwardly. "I  _ mean _ , I'll wait here."

"No need, Lunes. I'm literally right behind you." Hannah reminded.

"Oh!"

"Yeah," Hannah chuckled then looked at Ginny. "Thank you so much."

Ginny shrugged, smiling.

"Gin, hey," Harry finally waved and let himself be known.

"Hey," Ginny lifted a hand in greeting, then turned back to Luna. "Do you want to see what you'll be working with before bringing anything in?"

Luna nodded then took Harry's arm, and they trailed after Ginny. Harry pointedly raised his eyebrows at Luna. Luna shook her head with a serene expression on her face. Harry scoffed lightly.

They stepped in the backroom and found a mix of people in Beauxbatons and Durmstrang uniforms. There was a  _ lot _ of screaming and people in near tears. Harry grimaced and Luna rubbed his arm in a comforting gesture.

Ginny brought them to a double station. "Alright, so we basically claimed three areas and each area is a double station as you can see, so there's one station we have free that you guys are free to use. It's pretty big."

"It is! Thank you for letting us use the space you claimed," Luna found herself smiling, still.

"Yeah, of course," Ginny stared, almost transfixed by her smile. "Let's get you set up."

"Yes."

They walked back to the booth and began lugging the ice cream machines and a toaster oven. It did not take long to realize that Ginny herself would be working on the other side of the station and distracting her without effort.

* * *

Later that night, in typical Hannah fashion, she forced all eight of them [the official members of their group, plus Harry's poly] to huddle around the hood of the family van and slapped a leaf of a large notebook and several crayons. Still a little confused, they each picked a color and began to draw things while Hannah wrote in the middle.

"Okay," Hannah said, slapping their hands away. "That's enough."

They pouted and frowned, which she promptly ignored in favor of encircling the numbers of her list.

"This is all we need to accomplish before 1 am," Hannah said, looking at their faces like a captain detailing their next mission. "We'll divide and conquer—like we do best."

They looked down at the list and shrugged, agreeing with the contents.

"Well, 1 is easy. I can cover that," Draco tapped the number with his pink crayon. "What food do you want?"

"I can get us to a hotel near here," Hermione tapped her brown crayon on the hood thoughtfully. "It's actually also in the middle of a couple of restaurants and 24-hour stores."

"I'm on the snacks!" Ernie said hastily, oblivious to the fact everyone thought that was a given.

"Okay, great," Hannah nodded.

"We could have your uniforms laundered at the hotel, if they offer that service there," Hermione pointed at the item on the list with her crayon.

"Oops." Everyone looked at Harry who snapped his orange crayon in two.

"Sorry, Hannah," he said, sheepishly. She simply waved it off and looked back down at the paper.

"But hotel services are pretty expensive," Hannah frowned. "Is there any laundromat nearby?"

"Yes," Draco answered, tapping his chin with his thumb. "But it's opposite the way to the hotel. It's fairly priced."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned to look at him suspiciously. Draco shrugged.

"Alright, whatever. Time to split up," Hannah said, clapping her hands. "Ernie can run to a store and buy food that  _ won't _ get us kicked out of a hotel. Hermione has to go with me to book the hotel. Draco has to go with someone to the laundromat. Someone has to buy dinner. The others have to be supervised; otherwise, they'll trip and die probably."

"I like your whole energy," Hermione said, mildly impressed with her foresight. "And vibe."

"Thank you," Hannah replied, humbly placing a hand over her chest and smiling at her. "It stemmed from watching Theo trip over his own two feet one too many times." She smirked to her left where Theo was looking away innocently.

"I can—"

"You're under supervision, Theo."

Theo scowled and crossed his arms.

"I can get us dinner," Luna offered.

Everyone froze, thinking back to every single time Luna promised something was "incredible" and "a lovely choice."

"Uhm, maybe." Hannah began. "Ron! Maybe you should go with Luna!"

"Of course! No problem!" He readily replied.

"Oh. Am I under supervision too?" Luna asked, calmly.

"Sorry, honey." Hannah nodded apologetically. Luna shrugged. Hannah folded the paper up and put it in her bag. "So that means Harry will go to the laundromat with Draco. Okay, time to go! Let's go!"

"Everyone is way too awake for a day that disastrous," Ron whispered to Luna as they walked together.

"That's just Hannah's power," Luna replied, smiling up at him.

* * *

The next morning, Luna went into the backroom alone with her hair loosely bunned, stuffed in a hairnet, and hastily pinned in place with plastic chopsticks. As soon as she walked it, Ginny's eyes snapped to her.

"Hey! Good morning!" Ginny greeted her, walking around the station to stand in front of Luna and catching the attention of all her other groupmates.

Ginny noticed and promptly began pointing at each person as she said their name. "Those are Elois and Gabrielle, my batchmates in Culinary Arts. Parvati and Zach are out there managing the booth."

"Hi. It's nice to meet all of you," Luna waved at them. They nodded at her, smiling, then got back to mixing.

"So, I noticed you walked in a little late," Ginny began nervously, lowering her voice so only Luna would hear. "Did you get to eat breakfast?"

Luna thought back to the hassle they went through to get eight people into two rooms with the maximum two people per room rule. Then again when it was time to get those eight people  _ out _ .

"I didn't get to." Luna shook her head.

Ginny lit up and took her bag from where it was placed on a chair.

"I was going to share it with you during my break, but now is a good a time as any, I guess." Ginny reached in her backpack and pulled out a clear, plastic container. "We played around with some recipes in this person's dorm that we're staying over at. I made some banana bread!"

"Banana is my favorite fruit," Luna said for the second time that week.

"I- I'm glad!" Ginny clasped her hands over the table. "Tell me what you think, okay? Be honest."

"I'm sorry," Luna said after drinking the water. She gestured to her throat vaguely, "It was dry."

Ginny's face dropped a little as she shook her head and waved off the apology.

Luna felt a little like she did something wrong to Ginny. That was why when night fell and her friends conveniently left her out of the elevator ride down to the first floor, she took the opportunity to steal herself back into Ginny's good graces.

Luna was standing in the middle of the elevator beside Ginny. Ginny was whistling while watching the numbers on the screen go down.

Luna was about to ask exactly what was in a chocolate salami, when the elevator suddenly opened at the fourth floor to a dark, empty hallway.

"Maybe a ghost wanted to say hi." Luna looked at Ginny.

Ginny smiled and shook her head. The elevator doors didn't close though. They waited while staring at the abyss.

Suddenly, the lights on the hallway flickered going to the elevator, like in every horror movie, and Luna yelped. At the same time, Ginny pressed the button to close the elevators.

"Whoa, calm down!" Ginny laughed. "I think we just didn't realize that it doesn't automatically close like that. It'd be pretty convenient for people who take some time to walk in and don't have people accompanying them, now that I think about it." She stole a glance at Luna. "Not very fun at night and you're new to the place too, huh?"

As the elevator doors opened, Luna silently told herself that even though that was embarrassing, she would take it in stride.

"Good night, Ginny," Luna smiled and waved, walking backwards to her friends. "Thank you for today."

She spun on her heel and skipped away as confidently and nonchalantly as one could with their heart racing.

"Oh, hey, Luna," Harry took her arm as they walked. "How was your ride?"

"It went well."

Soon enough, the night went as fast as it came. It was finally the final day of the competition and it was only meant to last from 7 am to 3:30 pm when the awarding ceremony would begin. Luna's team had finally gotten used to the processes and established their routine. They had to finalize their presentation and sell as much as they could, but for the first time since they formed their group, they were completely confident in themselves.

It hit noon when Hannah tapped Luna's shoulder. "It's your turn to take a break now."

"Oh," Luna turned to her. "I didn't know we were taking breaks."

"We weren't," Hannah smiled. "Until Theo pushed me off my seat and told me to take one and I figured since it's the last day, we might as well enjoy the event."

"Oh! Well, I'm glad Theo pushed you then," Luna beamed.

"How do you look so innocent saying that?" Hannah laughed.

"Honesty!"

Hannah shook her head fondly. "Thirty minutes," she said, pointing a finger at Luna as she walked out the backroom and back into the hall.

Luna washed and dried her hands, then pulled off her apron, gloves, and hat. She walked out into the hat adjusting her shirt, then began to wander around, heading to the Entrep Fest side of the hall.

She watched Ginny interact with two people who looked like twins, one of them wearing the same uniform as Ginny. Ginny caught her looking at immediately waved her over enthusiastically.

"Luna! These are the Patil twins, Parvati and Padma," Ginny gestured to the two beside her. "Parvati thought of the chocolate salami for our group—literally the only reason we haven't killed each other. Padma is in Mech Engineering."

The twins and Luna waved at each other.

"Guys, I'll leave you to talk then?" Ginny turned to them only to get waved off.

"So, what are you doing?" Ginny bumped her shoulder as they began to walk off.

"Just seeing. It's my break, you know?" Luna kicked the ground as she walked.

"Would you mind if I join you?"

"No, not at all."

They circled the hall twice in silence before Ginny began to point out booths and people to Luna, asking if she'd want to get something or meet people.

"You see those two?" Ginny gestured at someone with a voice recorder and another person beside them wielding a huge camera. "That's Beauxbatons' newswriting duo, Pansy Parkinson and Colin Creevey. I only brought it up because both their names are alliterative. Like yours." Ginny giggled.

Luna simply smiled serenely in response. She looked around. "Have you seen your brother around? Wherever he is, Harry usually is too."

"Pfft. Probably somewhere with his accounting friends, convincing some young entrepreneurs that they're interested in their math skills and should hire them to do some jobs," Ginny rolled her eyes, smiling. "It's pretty genius, actually. If I were that good at math, I'd monetize that skill."

"Your brother is nice."

Ginny remained silent, causing Luna to glance at her and find her face red as if she was holding her breath.

"Ginny? Are you—"

"Well," Ginny released in a puff. "I may have asked my brother about you too much, because—if it wasn't obvious—I'm kind of interested in you. Might have been for a while. And this talk about my brother reminded me that he has done me some really stupid favors, so yes, he  _ is _ nice."

"I," Luna began, turning to properly face Ginny with a completely open expression. "Am completely invested at this point and want to fall in love with you."

Ginny's face turned completely red.

"Do you always just say things like that?" Ginny chuckled nervously. Luna laughed and linked their arms, and spent the rest of her break trying out the different food and buying small, amusing toys she couldn't wait to show her father.

* * *

Later, they found themselves back in Ernie's backyard. With a tamer bonfire and Ernie's "incendio? incendio" Spotify playlist on. Luna watched everyone settle themselves on the stone seats, eating marshmallows in various levels of burnt, drinking coffee in different levels of drowned-in-milk, and laughing in different pitches of joy.

"I would like to forget that fanfare," Hannah announced.

"I already did," Luna said, genuinely, prompting laughter from the group who thought it was a joke.

"Look," Ernie called their attention, holding their phone out for them all to see. "We're already posted on the Hogwarts page."

"So soon?" Hannah asked, shocked. "Where was that sense of urgency when we were asking for help?" Everyone laughed.

"What does it say though?" Theo asked, mouth full of burnt marshmallow.

"Blah, blah, blah. Congratulations. Blah, blah. Professors Snape and Vector are so proud," Ernie rolled their eyes. "Hey, it also mentions how Dumbledore is proud! Except I don't remember seeing him anywhere."

They booed at the mention of Dumbledore.

"I can't believe we won second place," Harry shook his head, as much as he could with his poly cocoon wrapped around each other for warmth. "We've been stressing over everything, plus all that mess about the paper and the paper was one of the greatest reasons we placed!"

"Business plan instead of product proposal like the others, complete uniform, great and unique product," Hannah listed dreamily. "We won, guys!"

Ginny came back from when she excused herself for a couple of minutes.

"Hey, come inside for a while?" Ginny offered Luna a hand. Luna smiled and transferred her cappuccino to her right hand to accept Ginny's hand with her dominant hand. They walked to the kitchen with Luna occasionally swinging their clasped hands.

Ginny pulled out a chair for Luna to sit then brought over two containers wrapped in a blue plastic bag. She took one for herself and slid the other one over for Luna to open and see a decorated slice of carrot cake. Luna's face lit up, making Ginny smile besottedly and a little nervously.

"Go ahead."

Luna looked up at Ginny and grinned, taking one of the forks on the table.

Ginny sent a subtle look over at Luna then tried to look down at her container and eat nonchalantly even as the telltale crack of a container being opened from across the table made a little twist form in her stomach. Ginny visibly waited.

"I like it." Luna noted.

Ginny hummed  _ faux _ noncommittally, eyes on her container and fingers curled around her fork. Luna stared then cocked her head. She set her fork down and clasped her hands over her lap, looking directly at Ginny.

"I don't know how I sound." Luna said, in that airy, conversational tone.

Ginny looked up at her, startled and confused then patient.

"You draw that face often—like I said something displeasing. What you made is very good, you know." Her tone was consistently light but she looked about as serious as she probably could. Ginny didn't think that expression was warranted. It should remain in the important moments, like when Luna confessed she wanted to fall in love with Ginny. "I tell you exactly how I feel, but I don't know how I sound. I mean them all."

Ginny blinked and attempted to smooth out whatever expression was on her face, but it felt uncomfortable to and she felt—for lack of a better term— _ known  _ and off-kilter for it.

"Do you want to take this outside and join the others?" Luna asked. "Ernie and Theo might try jumping over the fire again, which is always amusing. Just the other day, they thought they saw an elf when they wandered off too far. I think it's great that they didn't completely fence off the little forest."

Ginny stood and smiled down at Luna as she collected their containers. "Let's go?"

"Yes." Luna nodded, pushing their chairs back then linking her arm with Ginny. They sat back down with the others, the bonfire still raging on with the invitation letters to the Pure Gold Competition notably burning to ash in the middle—a signal of the end.

"I won't lie," Hannah sighed, leaning on the arm she propped behind her. "If they invite us again next year to participate, I'll say yes. Now that we know what to expect."

Luna, Theo, Harry, and Ernie shared a smile at the implication that she wanted to do it all over again with them.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to show here that Luna's character is largely reactionary—her actions and words are reactions to things people do and say—even though she's generally seen (and called by the other characters) as passive. I saw her as down to earth yet fluid like water. At least, that's how I like to portray her. She's been a minor/secondary character for years and I wanted to show why exactly that is as I pushed her to the front. I only hope it was effective, and that you enjoyed this! It was very fun to write and I'd like to thank the prompter again!


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